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PURDUE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 6, 2009

Danny Hope

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to week six of Purdue football. The Boilermakers will be heading out on the road for the first time in the Big 10 ten season up to Minnesota.

Q. The first question I wanted to ask in terms of Minnesota and their receiver Eric Decker, what kind of problems does he present?
COACH HOPE: He creates all kind of problems. He is a guy that's a proven player, and they manufacture a lot of plays where he is the primary receiver, and he's their go-to guy.
You know, he is averaging 107 yards a game and certainly one of their weapons that they're going to go to. He's physical enough to knock the secondary guy around a little bit and get open and he is talented enough to get open with his athleticism as well. So he is very athletic and very physical and very sure-handed and they're on the same page as far as where he is going on his routes in the quarterback. So he is a great weapon.
Outstanding pass-receiving combination in the country, no question about it.

Q. Then you alluded to him a little bit, Adam Weber, the quarterback, what attributes does he have?
COACH HOPE: He is a really good player. He is an experienced player. He's found a way to win a lot of games. Got a great receiver to go to. He is a heck of an athlete. They have some run game that has great potential, some of that includes him as well.

Q. And I know we've kind of asked about this before this week but Jason Werner has really seem to have a strong senior season, the kind of season everybody hoped for. Can you talk about the way he's played so far?
COACH HOPE: He's doing very well. He didn't play a lot of football coming into this season. He had been out for a couple of years, and, you know, had to knock some of the rust off of him, but he's been making plays all season long, and he's been holding up from a health standpoint, and he is very consistent. He really understands football and is able to decipher the plays well, that allows him to make more plays. He is a heck of a football player. He's made a difference to our team.
We're still growing and developing at the linebacker spot. Carlino and Holland, you know, they're getting better, and those two young guys, Beckford and Antwon Higgs, they're getting a lot of playing time, and they're just now starting to become more consistent players. But Jason Werner has been a consistent player all along.

Q. I'd just like to you talk about Ralph Bolden for a couple of minutes; just how important he is to your running game and maybe just talk about how important the running game is to you guys' success, especially when you look at the time of possession stat?
COACH HOPE: Well we haven't manufactured as much running game the last couple of weeks. We came in the season with very, very strong running game, and people have come to play Purdue with a defense to stop the running game, You know, to stop Ralph Bolden, you know, some different schemes and different plans to, you know, load up the front a little bit, to make sure they don't get out numbered a whole lot in the box, and that's limited our running game some, but it's opened up our passing game some. You know, we're throwing for a lot of yards and we have some balance play-calling wise.
So we feel like we can go out and there and throw the ball and win. We feel like we can run the ball and win. We think we can go out there and do both.
Last couple weeks the defense was lined up more to stop the run, and we didn't have possession of the football very much; that limited our opportunities to get the ball to Ralph. Then he was banged up a little bit some going into the games, and then to just play a little bit as well.

Q. Is it absolutely vital that you guys get that running game going again for time or possession or obviously you'd ideally like to get it going right?
COACH HOPE: Ideal, yes, we want to get it going; no question about it. We should and we can. We got a good offensive line. Good blocking tight end. You know, good running backs. We need to get it going again.
We've been on the field for short drives some the last couple weeks and that's negated the run some. Every time you turn the ball over and give it to them and they're out there, you know, you're -- it changes your play calling sometimes.

Q. And is Ralph getting as many touches as you'd like him to, not only in the run game but in the passing game? I mean, do you want him to get the ball even more?
COACH HOPE: I would like for Ralph Bolden to get the ball more. I think anyone that's watched him play would come to reason that we need to get the ball to Ralph more, absolutely.

Q. And you touched on him being dinged up, but he's okay now right? He's close to 100 percent if not at 100 percent?
COACH HOPE: He is okay. But as the season goes on you get injuries and they never really go completely away because you play again and you get banged up some more. So we tried to be smart.
I think we've made some progress this year in managing our football team and keeping as many guys as healthy as we possibly can, and he's, you know, an example. But he's healthy now. He's healthier now than he was this time last week. He was very sore this time last week, and we had concerns about him, but he is healthier now than he this last time last week.

Q. I wanted to ask you some of the things that transpired as you were and your team were walking off the field last week. It have to say it was very concerning to hear some of the things that were being said from fans to, not only you, but to the players while you guys made your way to your locker room. Do you think there's a fine line for what fans should say to you and especially to your players?
COACH HOPE: Yeah, I think conduct is always something that we need to keep an eye on regardless where is the source and who is the recipient.
You know, we're offended by is cheers of the student body that are less abrasive than some of the things said to us when things don't go exactly right.

Q. And I was going to ask you too, I mean, as a coach, you've been in this business long enough so you probably come to expect, you know, the criticism, the negatively criticism coming from fans. Is it at all hard to keep your cool when you are walking off the field and you are hearing fans, you know, give you an earful or maybe give one of your players an earful?
COACH HOPE: No, we don't pay much attention to it.

Q. But I would imagine for like an 18, 19, 20-year-old that would be hard to keep their cool. I mean, do you talk to your players about just ignoring it?
COACH HOPE: We talk to our players often about dealing with criticism. And, you know, that's one of the prices of success is criticism, and that is one of the prices sometimes when things don't go well, is criticism.
But, you know, a lot of people, the only taste of success they'll ever have is when they take a bite out of one of us. We realize that, that's where it's at. You know, it's small on their part, we recognize that, and we have to be above that. It's easy do really when you look at them.

Q. Coach, just noticing over the last come of weeks Joey Elliott has been putting it up a little more, and he's been putting you guys in position to win a couple of games. Obviously, there has been mistakes here and there, but can you talk about his evolution into a player that you can maybe put the game on in the fourth quarter as opposed to the guy who is kind of a caretaker and kind of primarily handing the ball off?
A. I think our whole football team that is way. We keep swinging and keep having a great will to win and we fight it all the way. I think he's a perfect sample of our entire football team.
Joey's great for our team in a lot of ways. If something bad happens, you can't tell. Joey keeps on going, he is the same guy, that is a great quality in your quarterback. So he is a difference maker for our football team in a lot of ways; From that standpoint alone, he is certainly a difference maker. Particularly with some of the rough sledding that we've had this year.
He has some very good numbers. He's one of the leading, you know, passers in our league and threw for 300 yards the other day and threw for 70 percent completion percentage. But he is a first-year quarterback on the field. He is very experienced first-year quarterback from the number of reps he got as a quality back-up, fortunate in that way, but he's going through a lot of things for the first time.
He can play better, and he will continue to learn and continue to play better. There's a lot of plays out there that he can make, some things he can do differently that as a result of lack of experience on his part. So there's even greater potential for Joey Elliott than what you are seeing on the field right now. And he's doing very well. You know, he's a warrior, and he's a winner, and he's playing well for us and he can play even better, no question about that.
From the a throwing and catching standpoint, we're doing pretty good, but we're nowhere even close to where we can be and the light is starting to come up for some different guys. Guys like Keith Carlos, the light starting to come up for. Two, three weeks ago everybody was wondering where he was at. Well, he was getting ready to come on some. Now he's coming on some and fixing to take it to another level.
There is a different blueprint for each and every one of us. God has a different blueprint for all of us and it doesn't always happen at exactly the same time as we'd like it to. And I see the light coming to some of our receivers that are new to the program. And Joey can do some things to cash in even better.

Q. Perhaps this is a little bit of a glass-half-full approach, but does it say anything about your team, I mean, to have six turnovers like that and still have a chance to win in the end is kind of unusual. Normally, if you have that many turnovers, you are on the receiving end of a blowout. Is there anything that you can take from putting yourself in the position to win in spite of all of those things?
COACH HOPE: Well that's one of the things right now that we are very proud of as a football team. I've never been around a football team quite like this one. You know, we're very close to being one of the great success stories in college football. We're some turnovers away. You can take the other plays and leave them like they are. Take a guys that's too far off of a receiver on third and long and let them convert. Okay, you can keep all those things the way they are. If we minimize our turnovers, we're inordinate right now from the turnover standpoint, and that has minimized our opportunities to be one of the great success stories in college football this year.
So we realize that even though we've had a lot of horrific occurrences as far as the football goes, we've been in position to win every game. So we're -- I'm proud of our team, and we have pulled together. One thing I can say about this team that's very unique is that regardless of the horrific errors or the rough sledding there's never been any point in time on this football team, one time that I've heard any kid complain or point a finger at another guy on the team, another position on the football team. You know, when something doesn't go right, the next guy steps up, he goes in and plays. So we have some great redeeming qualities.
I love our football team. We don't like our record. We're not far off from having an awfully good record but we have to take care of the football.

Q. What do you tell a guy like Aaron Valentin who is having so many problems in terms of fielding the ball. I see you still have him returning the kicks. What do you do about a situation like that?
COACH HOPE: Well we have to go out there and get a lot of reps of that particular skill in practice and then, you know, you have to put him in position to be successful again, You know. Because he is a very talented player, You know, and we certainly don't want to ever allow ourselves to get ourselves in a situation where a guy's a liability, don't misunderstand me, but, again, we have some playmakers, and he is one of them, and we're certainly not ready to give up on him yet. We'll put him in position to be successful some.
Sometimes when a guy drops a pass we might turn around and throw him one the next play to give him a shot to be successful. It's a big part of coaching. You have to make some decisions sometimes to manage the personnel.

Q. I haven't been up there since Saturday, so just looking for a little bit more specific information on Royce Adams; what's the latest on him, and when could we possibly see him play?
COACH HOPE: Well he is going be out for a couple of weeks at least. That is unfortunate for our football team because Royce is a pretty special guy. He's probably the highest motor guy we have on our football team and one of the higher motor guys I've been around from the energy level and he doesn't wear down. And he plays in the second for us, plays at receiver for us.
Maybe in the fans' or the stat books minds you don't see all that he does but he impacts our football program a lot of ways by helping us on both sides of the ball. Had really come on as a special teams player and was starting to catch the football a lot better, a lot more relaxed catching the football and looking a lot more natural catching the football the last couple weeks in practice and actually caught one of in the game the other day. So it's loss to our football team from a talent stand point, but also from a guy out there that set the tempo on the practice field in a lot of ways.

Q. Just to be clear, is this like a bruise or a tendon, ligament; what's going on with him?
COACH HOPE: I can't elaborate on that, they have rules for all that, but he is out for at least two or three weeks.

Q. My first question would be, you know, because this team has been in the position to win multiple times even though they haven't been able to come out on top, what do you say to keep them up and make sure that guys aren't hanging their heads going into the next portion of the season?
COACH HOPE: Well certainly the desire to win should take care of a lot of that. Obviously, we recognize where we're at and what we've done and what's happened, but we still have to have fun being together, have fun playing football, you know, all of our goals are still alive. You know, you certainly want to recognize that lesser men might given up, but if we're what we say we're all about we have a lot of reason to roll up our sleeves and go out there and practice hard and work hard and get ready to play the next game.
We're not giving up on having a heck of a season or a heck of a football team. There's been some terrific play that we felt like we've improved in every phase of our football program, a lot of things about our football team as well. A lot of those things haven't shown up in the win column and that is unfortunate, but we feel good about the direction that we're going in and the price that we've paid, the ground work that we're laying.
And, again, every phase of the program, I don't care if it's academics, if it's recruiting, if it's a connection between the players and the coaching staff, being a physical play on Saturday, playing the game all the way to the end, we think this that football team has made some progress in almost every phase of our program, every phase of our team. We got to tackle better, hang on to the football, and we'll have a bunch of W's.

Q. What have been some of your greatest challenges this season in taking over the program?
COACH HOPE: Greatest challenges?

Q. Yeah.
COACH HOPE: This profession's a challenge from a sacrifice standpoint. It's no different here than at Eastern Kentucky University. If you're coaching and living to win, you know, that is what you have committed your life to. The biggest challenge was, you know, coming up here and trying to manufacture some kind of life after you left your family behind. We still haven't recouped as a family. That is been the biggest challenge, was leaving my family and my son behind and coming at a point and time when he was a senior in high school and having to start a new life over again; that is always the biggest challenge to the coaching profession is the sacrifices.

Q. Can you talk about switching out of the spread? Obviously, that was Joe Tiller -- a big thing for him.
COACH HOPE: We haven't switched out of the spread. If you take a look at the formation and the personnel and the groupings we're multiple. We don't run quite as much empty or five wide receivers, but there's lots of times where we can go into the game and be with only the quarterback behind the center, in the shotgun with five L's receivers spread across the field.
We're a little stronger or maybe a little more running game oriented from a formation stand point at times. But when I look at ourselves statistically -- I do it with Coach Nord. He does a great job, I think, of being balanced. Sometimes I've had people come up and say you realize you are almost exactly 50 percent in some of these stats. He does a great job of being balanced. And I check with him on a weekly basis and how much are we in eye and 2-back and 1-back. I don't think we've veered that far off from the spread.
We're doing things differently that I think allows us to be a little more physical as a football team. And we are physical football team right now on both sides, and that is a good thing for this time of year.

Q. Can you talk about what you have been able to do on offense? You talked about Elliott a little bit before, Bolden, just the success you've had on that side of the ball.
COACH HOPE: Well I think we've been able to keep the defense off balance in a different fashion than maybe what they had around here in the past. We do have a formidable running attack most of the time. There has been some times we haven't been able to establish the run as much as we'd like to, but you have to line up in the fender run against Purdue, that hasn't always been the case in the past. I think that is a big difference. A big difference and one of the a achievements of our offense this year.
We came in with only 3 or 4 starters on the offense. People forget that pretty quick. Only had 3 or 4 starters on the offense, and we didn't score very many points than what we had last year. So for us to be leaders in a lot of statistical categories and be considered a potent weapon by the opponent I think is a great achievement in the short period of time that Coach Nord and his staff have had with lot of these guys that we have in the offensive side of the football.
We have a good offense. I think everybody that plays us believes we have a good offense. We're not perfect anywhere on our football team and we strive to be excellent. But we are right now on offense, I believe, one that can score points and people have a lot of respect for.

Q. What's missing defensively would you say?
COACH HOPE: Pardon me?

Q. What's missing defensively? That's an area that you have had some struggles.
COACH HOPE: There wasn't anything missing defensively on Saturday. There were things missing earlier in the year, but Saturday by far as our best game defensively, particularly in regards to how they rose to the occasion. You know, we turned the football over six times. And five of those six times we turned the football over at 30 yards or less for the opponent to go -- give or take a yard, okay. I'm not a detail statistician but just trying to sum it up in a nutshell, we turned it over 6 times, gave it to them 5 times with about 30 yards to go and hold them to 4 field goals and 2 touchdowns. And they had fourth down stand, you know, and did a great job playing physical on defense -- broke up some passes.
I thought we were much better on defense Saturday than we have all year long. We had the fewest amount of missed tackles. Came down we're more physical on the run fit. We really made a lot of progress. Made more progress from the end of the Notre Dame game to the end of the game last weekend on defense, I think, than we have at any point and time all year, so I'm excited.
And we've emphasized things in practice that I think helps a little bit, and we're getting more guys that can play out there which helps a lot because for whatever reason, and you know, everything's not perfect. The other team's out there a lot, whether it be the turnover part of it or we're not getting off the field fast enough on defense or scoring too quick on offense, whatever the reason may be, we're having to play a lot of plays, and some new faces and fresh bodies out there is the difference maker for us right now. We got more guys that are ready to play now than we had a month ago and that's helping our defense.
We had a 19-play drive the other day that we held to a field goal, that's unusually. Somebody to drive the ball 19 plays and hold them to a field goal. 19 plays is too long to be out there but to be inside the goal line like that and hold them was big for our football team, so there's some real good out there.

Q. Got something kind of off topic but I'm working on story in Roman Oben, and he's going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in Louisville. I just wanted to get your opinion on what kind of player he was for you guys at U of L?
COACH HOPE: He was a great athlete playing on the offensive line. He was about 295 pounds and probably had about 8 or 9 percent body fat. You know, was a very, very special athlete, probably the best athlete I ever coached on the offensive line.
He moved over from defense and he was not excited about that. He wanted to play defense. And we gave him the Bruce Armstrong story. We had moved Bruce over here and he was a first-round draft pick. Then we got Roman over there and he was a great player for us at a point and time where it was, I don't want to stay a struggle, but a very competitive time for the University of Louisville football. We had one of the most competitive schedules in all Division 1 football. We were major independent at the time and Roman was a difference maker for us as a player and as a man. He is a very, very special person.
Big Roman Oben fan.

Q. What kind of guy is he kind of away from football? He seems to be a person with a lot of different interests, not just obviously football, but he seems to be kind of a well balanced kind of guy.
COACH HOPE: He's very, very proud person and extremely intelligent and has off the wall sense of humor.

Q. Do you have a special memory or any particular memory of Roman?
COACH HOPE: Not anything I want to share right now. We had a lot of fun together, me and that guy. I was a real young coach and he was a young developing player. There was some wild times when we were playing. We coached and played for Howard Sollenberger. A very tough time at the University of Louisville. A great time. I'll hold some of this. Call me privately I might share one with you, Mike, ok. I got the same phone number.

Q. All right. I guess you are not surprised he is a guy who has created -- some athletes kind of struggle with life after football. He used to be kind of a very busy with a lot of different things.
COACH HOPE: I'm not surprised about that at all. He was a person that always had great compassion for people and always had good judgment and made a lot of sense, and that doesn't surprise me for one bit, some of the things he has dedicated hiss life to.

Q. I know ever since he moved to wide receiver everybody's been high on Keith Smith, but when you came into the season did you think he could be the kind of receiver he's been for you, that obvious number one guy?
COACH HOPE: He had to be. We didn't have anybody else. You know, he was the best, most experienced guy we had coming back so he had to be. But he has the tools and the skills to do it, and he certainly has what it takes to step up and meet the challenge, not only from a talent stand point but also from a drive and determination standpoint. He has everything that you want of a big-time player to have.

Q. The difference between him last year and this year, is it just a matter of him not being hurt any more, maybe being in a little better shape and experience?
COACH HOPE: Everything's different from him. It's night and day. Went from being a guy that could be a great player to a guy that is a great player. And he has improved in every phase of his game -- his conditioning, route running, blocking, practice habits, every phase of his game.

Q. Just the other thing I want to ask you about. I mean, do you do anything in practice this week in response to the ball security issue Saturday or do you just look at it as if stick to fundamentals and last week was a blip?
COACH HOPE: We're going to obviously have to emphasize is more. Look at the film and there is loose ball handling, that gets back to being more diligent as coaches. So we have to emphasize it more in practice, and we have some drills set up for it, and we're doing things to make a difference from a ball handling standpoint.
We're taking any time there might be a few extra minutes dead time wise and get the jugs machine out or back up punter out and let him punt to our punt return guys in a drill they're maybe not so involved in try to capitalize on every opportunity to improve the ball security issue.
Doesn't just happen, a guy dropping a ball, it would manifest itself in a lot of different ways. We were inside the goal line the other day and threw a pass that we not would be a home run and it was poor read around and was not a good throw and catch operation and that produced a turnover. So it manifests itself in a lot of different ways. So we'll go out and look at all those different things try to work on all those things, but just not walking around holding on the football tight when you go from class or class. You have to go out there and practice those situations. Gimmicks are okay sometimes but you have do put them in the same situations and program them and I that can occur in different ways.

Q. You've obviously made quite a commitment to special teams here at Purdue with the way you of have organized your staff; do you feel like maybe you aren't getting the payout for that commitment?
COACH HOPE: I don't feel that way at all. We made some great strides on special teams, particularly last week.
You take the dropped -- the fielding of the football is what has given us a sour taste in regards to special teams. Aaron Valentin, I think he is the lead punt returner in the league. We did a great job on our kick coverage the other day. We have a field goal kicker that nailed one of the longest in school history. Haven't tried quite as many field goals as maybe I could, but I'm not disappointed in the special teams operation.
There's a few areas of special teams that we need to do a better job at. Kick coverage was one of them. And we did some things in practice and emphasized things in practice and really identified that area and hoped in on it then we had very good kick coverage the other day.
Kick placement is a different maker. It's going be a difference maker this weekend because they're the best kick return people we've seen this year. Their punt return guy and their kickoff return guy are both exceptional. I think one and two in the league, whichever order. But they're really, really good. Really, really good. So our kick placement and our coverage is going have to be one of the keys to victory this weekend.

Q. Just wanted to ask you about Brandon King; is it any coincidence that you think you are playing better defensively since he's returned to the line-up?
COACH HOPE: There's no coincidence he is a difference maker for us. Continuity back in the secondary is a lot like it is on the oval line. It's probably more imperative or more key at that position than any. We have continuity back there with him and David at the corners and Dwight and Torri at the safety spots and then also Albert Evan's is playing exceptional, as good as any one of our starters. He is really a guy that's come in and turned into one heck of a player, been a difference maker as far as the injuries that we had.
Brandon King certainly makes it better.

Q. Does he bring something to you also personality wise?
COACH HOPE: Any senior that's started that many games does. He is a lot of fun to be around and an upbeat guy, and those guys have played a lot together. So when they're together there's more chatter, there's strength back there. They really know each other. Kind of like a family reunion when you go to it and everybody is comfortable back there. He brings a lot of things to the table. A lot of things to the table for us.

Q. Do you do anything differently when you go to a place for the first time, whether it be a new stadium or going out to Oregon and playing; I mean, does anything change for you guys?
COACH HOPE: No. We'll make sure we know where the 25-second clocks are and find out which sideline's are ours, but the fields are all the same size and the same amount of officials.
In the old days you went on the opponents site and practiced. A lot of coaches still do it that way. Coach Tiller didn't do that it that way, and when I worked for him we did it the Tiller way. I like it that way a lot because the amount of hours that they're putting in throughout the course of the week. Not just the hours on football, when it's time to wake up and time to go to bed these guys are pulling 18-hour days. You got to go to school, you got to weights, you got treatment, you got media, you got practice, you got everything, tutor, study hall, everything, community services. They're pumping 18-hour days.
And to fly into a town, get on the bus, drive over to the stadium, get undressed, get your stuff on, go out there and do that little bit of workout that do you on Friday, then get back showered up, get on the bus, go back to the hotel, there's about a three-hour difference. We'd rather take that time to go to the hotel, get them off their feet and meet with them and try to get them in bed where they get eight hours of sleep.
This weekend, for example, I wouldn't want to fly in and go to the stadium. We're going to get to town 12 hours before we get up and get ready to go. So I don't see the need to have to go to the stadium like some people did. We didn't do it here in the past either.

Q. The officiating crew had a little bit of a rough game on Saturday. Do you expect to hear anything from the Big 10 about that, or is this going to be a pretty usual week where you probably submitted your complaints and you won't hear much back?
COACH HOPE: I like the head of officials they have. I think he is exceptional. I've been around him and been a round a lot of great leaders and this guy has what it takes. So I can communicate with him on a weekly basis anyway. Call him up, talk to him about things going on, ask him a lot of questions. And we have a rep here in town, a local rep that we can contact, so all of the necessary communication has taken place.
Not going to relive every call or get every call and sometimes you get some of you tough ones, but if we don't turn the football over it doesn't matter. If we play the best we can and take care of the football and hit hard and don't make as many mistakes and swing for 60 minutes it wouldn't matter, so I'm not going get into the officials thing. They got a head of official is he'll take care of it. I know he will.

Q. You mentioned that you are going to maybe do some different drills this week in terms of ball security; what kind of different things are you going to do?
COACH HOPE: Well, for example, whether or not we go out in shorts or shells today we play a real physical game. This is the time of year and time of season that you have to watch out for different types of fatigue. You know, I mean, you got to keep an eye on what's going your guys and being connected with how they feel.
I felt last week it was best for us to go out in shorts and really work on assignments. Where this week we're fought going out in full pads. A lot of times on Tuesday we go out on full pads so we can tackle and cut block. It's tough Tuesday. We're still going to have a hard-nosed practice, but we'll wear shoulder pads today, and we'll do more fielding of kicks where the ball's being caught with pads on rather than without pads on and have the scout team try to reach from there and pull the ball out some when our ball carriers are going by them. And when they're in play and when they're coming back to the huddle, you know, to try to work on people trying to strip the ball from us some. Just every different phase that we talked about as far as how we turned it over, try to improve in those areas.
We'll catch a lot of punts today with your pads on. A lot of kicks today with our pads on. Have guys try to strip the ball some today from our number one ball carriers in practice. We'll emphasize it more.

Q. Was it something you did consciously to get the rotation maybe more than you have on defense this year to really get guys in and out on Saturday?
COACH HOPE: Well it's the number of plays. You start getting 80, 90 plays a game you got to do something about the rotation or eventually they'll wear out. We haven't wore out. We're a getting after them in the fourth quarter, all of opponents. And getting fresh guys in and playing those guys is helping us.
If you get somebody that's dinged up, it's nice to have someone that's played before. We've had a little more luxury maybe on the defensive side of the ball to do that from depth stand point than the offensive side of the ball.

Q. You mentioned you had fewer missed tackles this week; is there a number on that?
COACH HOPE: Yeah, I don't have the number with me. It's significant because you can see the difference in the offense, offensive production. They were reduced to about 25 percent the total amount of offense. They didn't have as many plays that accrued yards after contact. But you don't have do the stats. I knew coming off the sidelines the other day we had more hats on the football than what we had in the past, and we played a lot more aggressive on defense than what we had in the past. I thought they had really shown what type of defense they could be without having to count a single stat.

Q. And you said too that the success on defense kind of came from emphasizing different things in practice of late; what were those things?
COACH HOPE: Well couple things, you know, without doing a whole lot of game planning or giving away is we need to do a better job of lining up fast. In order to do that we got to get the scout team to line up fast. So we changed the command that we gave the scout team as far as the tempo they should leave the huddle and get lined up in. That forced our defense to line up quicker and everybody get etched in stone or locked and loaded, if you will, and get the calls out.
We needed to did that because the opponent last week had a reputation for calling as fast as you could possibly call them. And that helped us, practicing at that tempo with the scout team approaching the line of scrimmage; that's just one thing for example.

Q. The turnover margin, obviously you talked a lot about this, but part of that is the defense creating more turnovers, too, and the margin gets slimmer then, too. In terms of defensively that's kind of the next step for this group, to create more?
COACH HOPE: We sat down and talked about the areas that we turned the ball the other day, in the game, you know, I said anything else, and the defensive coach said yeah (inaudible). So it's recognized and we have to do that. Being able to pressure the quarterback is a big part of that, the style of offense that you play against. But we like to improve more takeaways, that's for sure, that would help.

Q. You mentioned Minnesota's special teams especially the punt and kick off return; I mean, what stands out about them and also how they're probably covering punts a lot better, too?
COACH HOPE: Well they've got some guys that can really run doing it and they use more starters on it. They probably have a few more guys they're rotating in the games than what we do. They're using a few more starters on their special teams. But the guys that are returning the kicks, the punt return or the kick off return, they're exceptional at it; they're great athletes.
Looking at Minnesota, I think they're the best defensive football team that we play all year long. And they have great potential on offense. You know, they throw and catch very well. And they have a run game that is not that far off from being one that can really take over in a game. The stats don't prove that, but you look at the film and see how close they were on some of the plays, you know, and the quality guys have to run the ball with, big offensive line they have, it's there. Just like ours, it's there. It's not one that's inept I assure you.
They have talent. They're very talented football team. They're nothing like they were two years ago defensively where they were ranked as, you know, a lot of lower statistics on the national level. They are an exceptional defense right now.

Q. What about their defense impresses you?
COACH HOPE: Well they have two or three really big defensive tackles that are real tough that play with great leverage. Great big strong guys that aren't tall but are really thick and can throw anchors and hold point that can affect your game. They have two or three linebackers that can really run and hit. I belive if you look at top ten tacklers in ours league right now, I believe three are Minnesota and a very, very aggressive secondary. Excellent hitters in the secondary and guys that can break on the ball.
So you watch the way they play and what they play with, I think right now it's this best defensive team we've played up to point.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Josh Johnson, what kind of factor he's been on special teams for you; does he emerge as one of your special team, better special teams players up to this point?
COACH HOPE: He is doing a good job on special teams and he's getting better at playing his position. And he is really important to us. Torri Williams could be the third corner or Josh could be the third corner if something was to happen with your number one or two guys. Josh has done a very good job learning his position so he is very important to us.

Q. Do you like what he's done when you go to the dime and nickel package and he's been involved in that?
COACH HOPE: Oh yeah. He's still learning. He gets out of position a little bit and in practice as well, but he's doing awfully good for a young guy and he is a very, very talented player, and he is easy to work with. He'll listen and he works hard and he communicate very well so I'm pleased with his progress.

Q. You were saying moments ago that you've had a huge improvement between week 4 and week 5. A lot of times you hear coaches say their most improvement of team comes between weeks one a two. Why most recently has the improvement come?
COACH HOPE: Well on the defensive side of the ball I said I thought we made our biggest steps. I think we did some things defensively on Saturday that really made a difference. We had fewer missed assignments from alignment assignment stand point. That's critical in the run game. You know run fits. Where people run the ball and there's gaps all across the field and they try to run in those gaps, and if you are there that's considered a fit. If you are there and you do it from a physical standpoint, that's considered a physical fit. We did a better job with our fits. And we were, you know, alignment assignment wise, fit wise we did a better job and we were more physical on our fits. And I think that we lined up and executed the details of our alignment assignments with more of sense of urgency.
And I think we have some pride on defense some guys that have some pride that have been part of some unusual circumstances. And the numbers aren't necessarily real attractive, but some guys that still want to be one heck of a defense. You know, so that was a great sign Saturday.

Q. You were saying that you believe this team could still have a very special season. Your confidence personally, does it come from your success at Eastern Kentucky or work under Joe in the 90s or is it just the way you are made?
COACH HOPE: I was fortunate to be with some of the great mentors in football. I have never been part of an easy coaching situation.

Q. You said you've never been part of an easy coaching situation?
COACH HOPE: No.

Q. So it's been challenge --
COACH HOPE: Always. Always.

Q. One other question, a little away from football. Last night you were talking with Tim Newton on the Purdue radio show --
COACH HOPE: Well let me go back a little bit. If we didn't have guys that were out there that had the will to win, then it wouldn't matter where I had been or what I believe in, it would all be negated.
You know, I know what it takes to win, our staff know what's it takes to win, and I've been fortunate to be with some of the great mentors in football, but we have a teams that had a great will to win. The credit goes those guys. I appreciate the question, but the credit goes the players. They defy all odds in a lot of ways to me as a team. They really do.

Q. One other question. You were talking with Tim last night on the Purdue radio show about your contact with Habitat with Humanity, what moves you about the charity?
COACH HOPE: Any charity, any time that you can make a difference or you can help make things better, that's, you know, that's why you are here. You know, we don't get into the coaching profession for the fame and the glory, we get into the coaching profession because we love the game and we love being around young people. And normally if you are a person that loves being around young people you have compassion for people, you know. And the Habitat for Humanity is something that you spend just a little bit of time on and really make an impact many some people's lives.
And at the same time to be able to put Coach Tiller's name on something is really important to me because he'll always be recognized for the great things he did here from a coaching standpoint and football accolades, if you will, but a lot of times people miss on the impact that he made on the community.
If you take the significant increase of the ticket sales and the people in the stands from the 10 years before he got here to the 12 years that he was here, and you count that up and you produce it into dollars into local business, it impacted a lot of people in this community's lives. Whether or not they had to work a second job to send their child to college or not, impacted the entire university and the entire athletic department and the entire community here.
To put his name on something I think is deserving.

Q. Brian was talking about Keith Smith a little bit. Can you talk about maybe one of the knocks on the team coming into this year was maybe you lacked a number one wide receiver. Do you feel like he's silenced the critics by being that number one wide receiver?
COACH HOPE: I don't know why anybody would be critical of Keith. You know, there was some question, we didn't have any critics in regards to our receivers. We had some questions about who was going be our number one receiver and what we were going to have from a throwing and catching stand point. But, you know, I think his play speaks for itself. He is one of the great players at his position in our league, and he can play and be a great player for any team in the country, I think. He has all the skills you want at the receiver spot.

Q. Do you feel like maybe with how close you guys have been in these games one win can kind of get this team rolling I guess?
COACH HOPE: We need to get one this weekend. We can't look, you know, be that clairvoyant, if you will. We focus on this weekend right now and not project about the impact of one win going to chain our entire lives. We focus on this game and the game plan and the keys to victory.
There's a lot more to winning than just showing up and wanting to. There are keys to victory you have to cash in on every phase in the game. If you miss out on something, you negate your chances.
A simple thing that we're hanging our hat on is being a team that hits the hardest, the team that makes the fewest mistakes, and the team that never quits. We feel like if we do that, we'll have a chance to win every Saturday. Well we hit hard a lot. We're physical football team and we never quit. That middle one, make mistakes, we make some of those and right now that's why we don't have a great record. Just trying to do those three things, you got to be very detailed.

Q. My last thing for you. Tim Brewster, any thoughts on him, Minnesota coach, kind of a Lafayette guy, a former grad assistant at Purdue, your relationship with him at all?
COACH HOPE: I don't really know him all that well. I'm not the greatest buddy as far as keeping in touch with people. I have a great respect for him, and I've known him a lot of years and he's done a tremendous job, but I'm not a big network guy.
A lot of people were surprised when I came back to Purdue to accept the job here that was the first time I've been back since I left. I was gone 5 or 6 years. I had only talked to coach Tiller 2 times in those 5 or 6 years.
And I've known Tim Brewster, known about him for long time and have a lot of respect for him but we don't stay in touch. But he's done a great job. All the things he said when people were being skeptical and critical of him, he's stood by his guns and believed in what he hung his hat on and proved his ability and they have a very good football team, and they didn't necessarily have the same thing two years ago.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.
COACH HOPE: Thank you, guys.

End of FastScripts

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